Men’s basketball: Brown’s career-high 30 send Cardinal over WSU

Anthony Brown picked a fine time to pump a career-high 30 points. His big day, when none of the other Cardinal was scoring consistently, led Stanford to a 69-56 win over Washington State in Pullman on Sunday.

A loss to the Cougars, on the heels of a loss at Washington, would have all but buried Stanford’s NCAA Tournament chances. The Cardinal came into the game with an RPI of 46, putting them on the bubble. A loss to one of the worst teams in the league would have been extremely damaging.

Brown scored 20 points in the first half, hitting all four of his three-point tries, as Stanford (16-8, 7-5 Pac-12) opened a seemingly safe 39-24 lead at the break. But the Cougars (9-16, 2-11) cut the lead to 49-44 with 9:17 left. The Cardinal scored the next seven points, including a putback-slamdunk by Josh Huestis and two driving baskets by Brown, to regain control.

Brown hit 8 of 10 field goal tries and 10 of 11 from the foul line. Chasson Randle was the only other Stanford player in double fiures with 14. Que Johnson led WSU with 14, while Devonte Lacy, who had 39 against Cal in an overtime loss on Wednesday, was held to 13. The Cougars shot just 31 percent from the field.